


Christmas Discoveries

by Annasfanfic



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29740665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annasfanfic/pseuds/Annasfanfic
Summary: He waited too long but Albus had wanted to give him some time to simply enjoy his life. Still, he has a duty, and it cannot be ignored.A slow moving political drama in which Dumbledore is *gasp* a good guy.





	1. A Very Fluffy Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Some light cursing.

“Mum wants you to write her back soon about what you want for Christmas.”

Harry turned around in surprise. At the table behind him in the library there was a Ravenclaw first year being talked to by a Hufflepuff Prefect. They were so close to him that he’d at first thought the Prefect was talking him.

The younger boy sighed, “I know, I just don’t know what I want. They always only want us to tell them five things, but there’s so much!” 

Harry turned away from the bickering siblings and sighed to himself. Christmas was a month away and, as usual, it only served to make him sad. He’d never had a real present. Oh sure, one year he had gotten a dirty sock. Last year he got a screw.

His holidays were spent in his Aunt Petunia’s room arduously wrapping hundreds of gifts. Not just for Dudley either, though the boy did get the majority of them, there was also a long list of other people gifts had to be sent to. Making connections or something like that. It was enough to depress anyone.

He started to cheer up though at the sudden thought that he didn’t have to go home this year and wrap all those presents. He couldn’t help but feel a slightly sadistic glee at the thought of Aunt Petunia wrapping all those presents on her own. She must be miserable!

With that thought he turned back to his Charms work only to find that he’d accidentally marked down part of the usual Dursley gift list. He was about to grab a new piece of parchment when it occurred to him.

He could give gifts this year.

He’d always doodled out a Christmas card for the librarians who let him hide in the library year-round but this year he could send more than that.

He had a whole room of gold! He remembered the room that went too far back for him to see filled with stacks taller than Hagrid. He smiled what was likely the biggest smile of his life thus far and flipped the ruined piece of parchment over, intent to start his very own Potter gift list.

The librarian of course, Madam Pince was harsh but always made sure there was a quiet comfortable area to work and relax in.

Professor McGonagall was fantastically helpful in class and a calming presence many evenings in the Common Room. Three, sometimes four times a week she would sit at a desk in the Common Room, back to a wall, facing the entire room and would mark papers, offering her assistance with homework or personal problems. If she happened to mark your paper while she was there she would call you over and discuss it, then give it to you after marking your grade in her grade book.

Hermione, Neville, Theo, Cedric and Ron were givens of course.

Perhaps the twins, they always made sure to give people something to laugh at, even if it was themselves.

He chewed the back of his quill, wondering if he should give the rest of the staff something. They worked hard all year long, surly they deserved some kind of acknowledgement for that.

Right, he nodded his head as he decided that he was definitely giving the staff presents. _Headmaster Dumbledore. Professor Flitwick. Professor Sprout._ His quill faltered but he decided to add him anyways. Perhaps if he got a present he’d be nicer. He determinedly wrote out _Professor Snape_. _Hagrid. Professor Quirrel. Madam Pomfrey._ Goodness knew she patched him up often enough.

His quill faltered again. How did one get a gift for a ghost? He frowned but scribbled out _Professor Binns?_ _Filch_ was also added to the list tentatively. He didn’t like him, but he did a lot for the school. _Madam Hooch_ of course, who had helpfully continued to train him in flying, even after he’d gotten on the house Quidditch team.

_Oliver Wood. Angelina Johnson. Katie Bell. Alicia Spinnet._

He hummed thoughtfully then moved back to the Professors. _Professor Sinistra._ He knew there were more Professors, he just wasn’t sure what their names were. Surly they deserved recognition too, even if they didn’t teach him just yet. He decided to hunt down their names and look into it. And who cooked the food for the school?

Perhaps the prefects as well. They were important and helpful. He went hunting for the list he knew the library had and was pleased to find it quickly with Madam Pince’s help.

 _Professor Vector. Professor Trelawny. Professor Kettleburn. Professor Burbage._ _Percy Weasley. Sylvia Smyth. John Ryan. Alexandra Wopsle. Arkie Bode. Penelope Clearwater. Ragmar Stroud. Tiffany Stroulger. Andros Summers. Courtney Evans. Lewis Wimborne. Agnes Lapaine. Hugo Blane. Kathrine Harkiss. Raymond Barnacle. Maggie Sapworthy. Mohammed Levskit. Jasmine Wiggleswade. Gideon Malfoy. Nymphadora Tonks. Argus Brunt. Serena Dudgeon. Myron Buckley. Malva Portchester._

Harry sat back and stared at the list. It was long to be sure, but he still wanted to do it. Hogwarts was so important to him, so fantastic, and each of these people helped ensure that it stayed that way. Perhaps he could restrict the Prefects to simple cards and maybe a piece of candy. That would certainly cut back costs a little bit. And wrapping time.

He shivered a little bit at the thought and went about marking a double C next to each of their names, with a little reminder at the bottom of what that meant. Now the Professors. That stumped him, particularly because he didn’t know where to get anything from. He sighed and set the list aside, he still had homework to do after all.

* * *

Harry was pleased to see that Professor McGonagall was still in the Common Room when he got back from the library. He carefully placed his Transfiguration essay into her first-year homework basket then patiently waited for her attention, smiling back at her when she shot him a smile in acknowledgment.

Finally, she set the eagle owl quill she was using down and directed her attention to him, “How may I help you Mister Potter?”

Harry smiled back, “Well you see, I was hoping to get some people Christmas Presents this year but I don’t know how to do it when I’m in the castle.”

She leaned back and studied him. She was no fool, she may not have as much time to stay with her house as the other Heads of Houses but she always made an effort. And she had noticed that Mr. Potter was, without a doubt, abused. It pained her deeply because the Headmaster had explicitly forbidden her from doing anything about it, but she helped him how she could. She could see his logic behind Christmas presents immediately and had no doubt he would likely go overboard. _But_ she was also pleased at the idea, the more he sent out the more friends he was likely to have. And goodness knows that the Potter family could certainly afford it.

“Many stores have catalogues that can be used to have things owled to others or yourself, I’m sure I could gather several up for you. Do you have your Gringotts key?”

Harry blinked in surprise, recalling Hagrid taking it back from the teller. He shook his head, “No, but I can get it back I think.”

She nodded in approval, “Be sure you don’t forget anyone on your Christmas list dear, I’ll get those to you tomorrow.”

Harry nodded, “Thanks so much Professor!”

He dashed off, pulling a piece of parchment out of his bag and running over it already. She shook her head with a pleased smile on her face before turning to the next student waiting for her attention. She bit back a sigh at the needy girl next in line, “Yes Miss. Smyth?”

* * *

Harry had ended up deciding to add anyone who would be staying at Hogwarts for the holidays, his dorm mates, and the heads of all the noble families. And now he was just debating what to get. He’d already picked out a pack of cards for the prefects and he was getting a box of a hundred chocolate frogs that he was going to give one or more of to each person.

Flipping through a gift catalogue he found a moderately priced wine, cheese, and cracker gift set that he thought might do nicely for the Professors that he didn’t have and Madam Pomfrey (the Torturer). He then got a similar gift set, but more expensive for the heads of the noble houses. He got Madam Hooch, the Quidditch team, and Cedric each some warm Winter Quidditch gloves and a broom shining kit, and got himself a set of each as well.

Flipping through a book catalogue he found _2,500 of the Most Dangerous Magical Creatures Known to Wizard Kind_ which he thought would do nicely for Hagrid.

He gave Madam Pince the same gift set he got for the Professors he didn’t have, along with a 25 Galleon gift card to Boada's Quill which was a high-end book store.

Professor Quirrel got _The Handbook of Emotional Sorcery_.

He got Hermione _Mystical Castles of The Northwest_ and _100 Tricks to Transfiguration_.

He got Ron a silver chest set, since he was always complaining that his was an old set of Percy’s.

He got Theo _A Beginner Charms Theory Overview_ by Alecia Ogden.

Fred and George each got a 10 Galleon gift card to a store called The Slight of Hand, along with its catalogue.

He’d noticed that Professor McGonagall always used different ink for each parchment type she graded, sometimes switching colors mid parchment so he got her a gift basket of various different kinds of ink, which also came with five specialty quills.

After some deliberation he got both Professor Flitwick and Dean Thomas, one of his roommates, a similar gift basket, though not quite the same one.

He was delighted to find a gift basket that sent people three packets of seeds, booklets on care of said seeds, and a monthly newsletter. The basket was sent out once a month and the seeds were different each month. He couldn’t help but imagine both Professor Sprout’s and Neville Longbottom’s delight at such a basket. Apparently since it was Christmas there were five seeds this month instead!

He wasn’t quite sure what to get Seamus Finnegan so he simply got him a basket of sweets from the Wonka store. He got a larger basket for the Headmaster as it was rumored that he had a sweet tooth to rival anyone else in the school.

He found a broom which also doubled as a mop that could self-apply cleaning supplies for Filch. The rumor was that he’s a squib and so Harry had made sure that even squibs could use it.

All that left was Professor Snape and anyone who decided to stay over for the holidays. It took quite a bit of deliberation but he eventually made the decision to order anyone who stayed for the holidays an even smaller basket of sweets from Wonka than he had Seamus. But that still left Professor Snape.

He wanted to get the man something he liked in the hopes that he might earn even a smidgen of leeway from the extreme hatred the man directed at him. The fact that he was the heir of a noble house made it all the more difficult. Should he get him something small? Go all out?

There was a subscription to a monthly potions journal, but would getting that make the man think that Harry thought that he didn’t care enough about his job to already have such a thing?

Eventually he sprung for a very large potions supply basket. Rather than being held in a basket the whole set was held in a large platinum cauldron, which were rather expensive to begin with. So that there was no cross contamination of materials the cauldron was then lined with velvet and held a large mix of various kinds of stirrers, knives, and phials, all of which were also wrapped in velvet. It was the most expensive gift he’d picked out, but perhaps it would win him a small amount of leeway.

By the time he was done filling out each order form, dipping his key in ink and pressing the imprint onto the order form, and writing out the notes that would go with each gift basket he’d ordered Harry felt very certain that his hand would never feel the same. But at least now he had a job for Hedwig!

* * *

Harry had happily signed up for the Castle Christmas Decorating Committee, which was run by Professor McGonagall. Apparently, each other house had their own committee as well, but Professor McGonagall had declared that any Gryffindors who signed up for the Castle Committee were also going to work on the Common Room, which Harry thought to be fair enough.

Their first meeting was on the second Friday of December and they spent the afternoon learning and perfecting various spells. Harry got in the Tree group and spent the afternoon learning how to Transfigure things into ornaments and how to change a string of popcorn into a string of lights (which was a cool mixture of Transfiguration and Charms). The next day they met in the Great Hall after breakfast and Harry got to work on the trees Hagrid dragged in.

For lunch anyone in the decorating committee got honey ham and hot chocolate as part of their selection. Harry had a good laugh at Ron’s fork just sliding right off the ham and getting stuck in the table. It took Hermione pointing out that it was getting stuck in the same place in the table regardless of where he started, and that he likely wasn’t allowed to have any, for him to give up. He had sent mutinous glares at the ham for the rest of lunch.

After lunch he met back up with Professor McGonagall in the Common Room and set to work stringing up popcorn lights and hanging ornaments from the strings. Harry had found the work extremely enjoyable, everyone in the group was chatting and having fun and afterwards Professor McGonagall had given each of them a small baggy of gummy worms.

Those had provided their own delights as they had gone to battle on the table while he and Ron played chess after he was done. It had been hilarious seeing Harry’s discarded chess pieces attempt to do battle with gummy worms. The chess pieces won most of the time, ending with the gummy worms being cut in half, thus ending the spell on them. In a surprise move six of the gummy worms had ganged up on the queen, wrapping around her tightly and forcing her to swing her sword towards any other pieces that came near them. The stalemate had ended when Harry and Ron had each taken a gummy worm, thus turning the tide in the favor of the chess pieces.

The night had ended with Harry and the rest of the Decorating Committee having gingerbread men appear directly onto their plates when it was time for desserts. They each sang a small song and then hopped into his hand, which had resulted in a small armful of the little cookies. Harry was left smiling happily and thinking that this was the best Christmas he’d ever had.

* * *

Albus stared down at the duplicates of the purchase requests from dear Harry’s vault. He’d long ago approved the list, it was all Christmas presents that Harry wanted to give out. He sighed heavily because unfortunately the list brought to mind that Albus had yet to ensure he had training in finances, politics or anything of the sort. It had been hard enough to get the Dursleys to agree to take the dear boy, but they had expressly forbidden any magic from taking place on their property and were the only ones in charge of how the boy was to be raised before Hogwarts. It had been a difficult, but necessary, agreement.

His eyes were drawn to a book he hadn’t touched since that dreadful week. Perhaps it was time, he thought, to introduce Harry to the world he was born into more fully. He got up and carefully grabbed the thick book before heading up to the hidden room on the sixth floor.

“Zalby.”

The small houself that had been with him since he had been a child appeared before him with a beaming smile. “Albie calls Zalby?”

Albus smiled happily at the little being and crouched down so that they were at equal eyelevel. “Yes, I do Zalby. How are you doing these days?”

The little houself waved a hand, “Oh Zalby is old but strong, just as Albie.” He leveled the man with a glare, “But Zalby takes care of Zalby, while Albie sits in that stuffy office and stuffs his face full of candy.”

Albus laughed, Zalby was the only one who ever scolded him anymore and he found it more refreshing than a glass of water on a hot day.

“I’ll keep that in mind Zalby. Are you busy or could you do this old man a favor?”

Zalby shrugged, “Zalby is always happy to help silly Albie.”

Albus passed the elf the book in his hands, then gestured to the room behind Zalby which was a disorganized mess of envelopes and packages causing Zalby to fall over in shock then quickly turn to Albus in anger.

“What has Albie been doing in this room!?! Army of elves but no one to watch over this room!?!”

Albus paled a little, “I may have hidden this room from their prevue, they are much too busy to worry about this.”

Zalby glared at the man and turned back, ready to set to work, when Albus put his hand on the little being’s shoulder.

“Zalby, this room contains all of the mail that has arrived for Harry Potter. This book describes when the mail was received, who it was received from and what any packages contain. Over the next few weeks I’d like you to go through this room and first sort out anything designed to harm Harry; magically, mentally, or physically. Please record the information from the book into a letter, set it aside with the letter in question. We will forward these to the MDoD, they are expecting it. The wards already filter out anything too dangerous so you will be fine to sort through it, though if anything particularly bad slipped through please notify me and I will take care of it.

“Next I want you to go through and pick out anything that is supposed to be for Christmas time and put that in the room next door to the right, which I’ve already placed protections on. Whatever is left in this room please sort between Birthday wishes, official correspondence, any other holiday wishes, and general mail. General mail can go into the room to the left, which is also already protected.

“While I can wait on the rest of the sorting I would like the Christmas wishes and presents to be done a few days before Christmas please. When Harry and I have sorted through the Christmas letters and presents then the official correspondence may go into the room to the right, along with any other holiday wishes, though I would like there to be an obvious divide between the two. Can you do this for me Zalby, or shall I call an extra houself in?”

Zalby shot him a glare and sniffed, “Zalby did say he is caring for Albie. Zalby is more than capable, Albie. It shall be done before Christmas.”

Albus smiled in thanks, “I knew I could count on you, please let me know when you’re done.


	2. Tea

Harry woke with a start when something landed onto his bed with a soft thump. He scrambled for his glasses from his bedside table and was completely shocked at what he found, a small mountain of boxes covered in shiny paper. Presents! He scrambled forward and reverently began to open them. He had a wooden flute from Hagrid that made a lovely soft sound when he blew into it.

Wrapped in shiny blue wrapping paper that had snowflakes dancing on it he found an emerald green sweater with a large H on it and a small tin of fudge. He quickly yanked on the sweater and found it to be incredibly soft and warm.

Hermione’s gift turned out to be a bit of a letdown as it was a package of chocolate frogs and he still had about 20 frogs left from the box he’d bought. Nevertheless, he was still pleased to have gotten a present from her.

Cedric had gotten him two books; one on the history of Seekers and the other a detailed analysis on water aligned potions.

Neville had gotten him five books on Potions Theory that a quick skim through revealed incredibly small text to make up for the small size of the books.

Finally Theo had gotten him a small winter themed basket from Wonka’s Candy.

He was just about to consult Ron on his presents when a small card caught his eye. On the front was an animated picture of two snowman having a snowball fight. Each snowball melted into their bodies and they took snowballs from themselves. He found himself chuckling as he opened it.

_Dear Harry,_

_Merry Christmas! I hope you have enjoyed your Christmas presents so far._

_I was wondering if you might join me for a spot of tea this afternoon after lunch?_

_Have a lovely holiday_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Harry stared in shock at the letter and turned it over in his hands watching the snowmen fight for a moment. Eventually he shrugged, perhaps it was normal for the headmaster to meet with those who stayed for the holidays. With his luck that would not be the case, but there was nothing for it.

So, he put down the card, grabbed his presents and went over to Ron. Ron happily informed him that the sweater was from his mother and Harry beamed and gave him his compliments. Ron put on a matching maroon one with a large letter R and the two went down to breakfast.

Breakfast was extravagant, but mostly empty of people when they arrived. Shortly after he’d loaded his plate up with food he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and found a smiling Professor McGonagall, “Good morning Harry.”

Harry smiled back, “Good morning Professor. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas and thank you very much for the quill and ink set.”

Harry beamed back up at her, “Of course Professor.”

As the Professor walked away Ron sent Harry an odd look but continued eating. Throughout breakfast Harry continued to be stopped to be thanked and Ron continued to give him odd looks. By the time they left Harry wasn’t sure whether to be happy or anxious that Professor Snape hadn’t come up to breakfast.

Harry and Ron spent the morning playing chess and Harry worrying over the card from Dumbledore. He’d been excited for Christmas, but now he wasn’t certain that he shouldn’t have been dreading it. Eventually he shrugged that line of thought off. Ignorance was bliss after all. If he’d known every horrible thing that was going to happen before it did he’d spend his whole life filled with dread.

Finally, lunch came and Harry found himself slowly munching on a sandwich sneaking looks at Dumbledore. When the man was done Harry scrambled out of his chair leaving half a sandwich behind and rushed after him.

Dumbledore smiled in greeting, “Merry Christmas Harry. Thank you very much for the Sweets Basket. Did you know my favorite candy was lemon drops? Especially those from Wonka.”

Harry shook his head and weakly said, “Happy coincidence.”

“Indeed,” the man replied. They had reached the stairs now and the Headmaster turned towards Harry, a somewhat somber look on his face. “We’ll be taking tea on the sixth floor and I’ll give you my present there.”

Harry blinked in surprise, knowing the Headmaster’s office was on the third floor. Perhaps they would be taking tea in his personal quarters. He shrugged and nodded to the Professor, following him up the stairs. Finally, they reached a door that was much like every other classroom door.

Dumbledore shot him one more sad look before leading him into the room. Harry blinked in surprise at the large piles of paper that were featured behind two chairs.

“Please, Harry m’boy, sit down.”

Harry nodded and did so and Dumbledore followed suit before calling out, “Zalby.”

Before Harry could react to the nonsense word an odd creature appeared. It was thin and short and vaguely human looking, with large eyes and pointed ears. Its body was wrapped in what looked to be a small towel with a curly D on it.

“Harry, this is my houself Zalby. Zalby this is Harry Potter.”

The houself bowed low, “Nice to meet you Master Harry Potter.”

Harry nodded uncomfortably, “Nice to meet you.”

“Zalby,” Dumbledore jumped in, “May we have some tea?” Zalby nodded and snapped its fingers causing a tea set to appear on the table between the two chairs. Harry jumped in surprise but followed Dumbledore’s lead in thanking Zalby and serving himself some tea.

After sipping their tea in quiet for a time Dumbledore suddenly produced a package from his robes. “Here, dear boy is your present.”

He passed it over to Harry and Harry nervously opened it. He was startled to find a soft beautiful cloak. He had just been running his fingers over it before Dumbledore chuckled, “Why don’t you try it on?”

Harry blinked in surprise but stood and did so. When he glanced down at his body he was startled to find it wasn’t there and yelled out in surprise.

Dumbledore chuckled again, “It’s an invisibility cloak Harry. Your father left it in my possession after his unfortunate, untimely demise.”

Harry stared at the nothingness reverently before slowly removing the cloak and actually studying it. He nearly hugged it but instead sat back down and continued to stroke it.

Dumbledore continued, “Now, the reason I have this cloak is because I am your magical guardian. I’m afraid that your guardians expressly forbade any of my offers of help, regardless of whether they were magical or not which is why I have yet to introduce myself.”

Harry turned this over in his head. It made sense that the Dursleys would refuse to allow anything magical in the house but- “Why not come to me sooner then?”

Dumbledore offered him a small smile, “Hogwarts is an overwhelming enough experience for those raised with magic, let alone for someone who hasn’t had any exposure to it whatsoever.” Harry nodded slowly and looked down at the cloak he’d been given.

The headmaster called him back to the conversation by waving his wand and causing a larger box to appear on the floor, “Now I’m afraid some of these things will no longer appeal to you but I thought it best to give you them nevertheless. These are the nondamaged items that I managed to retrieve from your parents’ home.”

Harry walked around to it, still not letting go of the cloak as he opened the box. The first thing he saw was a stuffed dragon which he grabbed without thinking. Immediately he recalled the mountains of stuffed animals that Dudley had, most of which had gotten destroyed. How he’d longed for one the entire time. How much he’d desperately wanted something to cuddle at night which might chase away the dark monsters he’d shared his cupboard with. This whole time his parents had wanted him to have one, had gotten him one.

He looked in and found more toys, a selection of books and two long wooden boxes. He carefully grabbed one of the boxes after setting the dragon back in the box.

On the top of the box was a golden plaque which read _Lily Evans Potter 10¼", Willow, swishy_. Harry stared in absolute shock before prying the box open. Sitting in velvet was a wand with beautiful engravings which Harry reverently picked up. The wand vibrated gently for a moment then went inert. Harry reached in for the other wand which was labeled _James Potter 11", Mahogany, pliable_. This wand released gentle bubbles then also went inert after he held it. Harry desperately wished that either wand had accepted him but he was nevertheless pleased to just have the wands.

He looked over at Dumbledore with tears in his eyes and reverently whispered, “ _Thank you_.”

Dumbledore simply smiled, “It is the least I can do. Please take your time and work your way through the box.”

Harry carefully did as instructed; paying attention to each item in the box, until eventually he put them all away, but carefully brought the box over to be directly next to his seat across from the Headmaster.

The man smiled pleasantly at him and sipped some of his tea, “Now, something you have perhaps noticed is that you are incredibly famous in our world.”

Harry smiled ruefully at that, remembering his first visit with the wizarding world.

Dumbledore nodded knowingly, “You have perhaps also noticed a distinct lack of mail from said world. This is due to a ward that I placed on you when you were placed with your aunt as part of our agreement. The ward in place only blocks mail from people you do not know, so you are perfectly able to receive mail from Hagrid, your classmates, and any place which you have shopped or visited. However, the people who sent you this mail,” Here the Headmaster gestured to the literal mountain of mail which dominated the rest of the room, “do not know you, and thus it is sent here, or rather the next room over.”

Harry swallowed in shock. All of the piles, were for him?

The headmaster continued, ignoring his state of shock, “This is actually only part of the mail you have received since you were a child. This is all of the mail that is Christmas themed; be it cards, letters or gifts. You will note that there are ten piles, one for each year.”

Harry rather hysterically thought, Dudley had nothing on him. He wondered how the fat lump would react if he were to show him a picture. 

“Now its up to you what to do with piles. You can try to sort through them yourself or have help from your friends. Or you can call on Zalby who will introduce you to some elves who would be happy to help sort through it. Or you can ignore it and start anew. Regardless you have no need to respond as the mail ward sends an automated response to each mailer, thanking them for their letter or gift and informing them that you would receive it when you were old enough to do so.”

“I- I have no idea what to do.”

Dumbledore chuckled, “That’s quite alright as well, my boy. You have plenty of time to decide. You may bring up whomever you like to this room, though they’ll only be able to enter with you. If you decide you wish to have further help feel free to call for Zalby. Do you have any questions?”

Harry stared at him, before slowly shaking his head.

“Well then, as much as I would like to stay here and chat, I unfortunately do not get holidays off, and I must away to a political function. However if you have the time this evening I would like to speak with you again after dinner.” Harry nodded mechanically.

“Have a lovely Christmas.” The old man stood and walked out of the room, gently patting his shoulder as he went.

Left alone in the large room Harry scooted down onto the floor to be next to the large box. It took only a few moments to wrap himself back up into the cloak and pull the stuffed dragon into his arms. He stared for a long time at the things in the box. Some of the books appeared to be textbooks. He saw one on household charms. A few of the others had nothing on the covers, while the last one, which was under the rest, said _Potter Grimoire_.

He grabbed this book out and set it down beside him before studying the toys. Some of them appeared to be fairly standard toddler’s toys; a tower of rings, a colorful xylophone, and some stuck together Legos. There was also an odd yellow stick with gold things protruding from it, at the end of each was a different shape. When he jostled it while grabbing the book he saw the star light up while the circle spun and the square changed to a triangle. Very odd, but he supposed it was probably a magical toddler’s toy. Finally, there were stuffed animals of various different creatures, a few of which he couldn’t name. Still, he held them all close.

Harry eventually decided to just have the house elves the Headmaster had offered sort through and make a list of what he’d received. It was literally impossible for him to get it all sorted on his own, he realized after opening a few packages. The first had been a set of candles made by someone who lived on the Potter Estate, the second a large pumpkin pie, and the third a set of baby onesies that were no doubt more comfortable than anything he had been allowed to wear at that age.

He spent the rest of the day in a daze as he helped the house elves sort through everything.

All in all he’d likely gotten more presents this Christmas than Dudley had gotten in the past five years combined, maybe more.

A part of him hated the Dursleys all the more for depriving him of this. He’d always hated the Dursleys for so long as he could remember but the more time he spent at Hogwarts the more pronounced his hatred grew.

How could he not hate them?

He didn’t know how to talk to his peers.

He didn’t know how to carry out his duties and he barely even knew what those duties were.

He had never known the love of family members and friends.

He had never even received a present before Hagrid had gifted him Hedwig.

How was he supposed to go back to sleeping under the cupboard when he knew that there was an entire country full of people who loved and cared for him?

He hadn’t even realized that he had missed dinner until the door to the room opened and the Headmaster had walked back into the room.

He scrambled to his feet and nearly knocked over the pile of books he’d been looking through, “Headmaster! Is it dinner already?”

The Headmaster chuckled as he studied the progress he and the house elves had made, “Its well past dinner, I’m afraid my function ran a bit late so I only just got back. Zalby, a meal for Harry please.”

A moment later a plate of food appeared on the table they had tea at earlier and Harry moved over to eat.

“How did you enjoy your day?” the Headmaster asked as he accepted a cup of tea from Zalby.

Harry tried to figure out how to respond as he ate a piece of pork.

“I- That is-”

He took a deep breath and calmed his nerves.

“I don’t want to go back to the Dursleys.”

The Headmasters genial expression fell away, replaced with sadness.

“Ah Harry-”

“Surely someone, anyone would be willing to take me in!”

The Headmaster sighed, “On that count you are most definitely correct. I dare say there’s not a family in our world that wouldn’t happily bring you into their household. I’m afraid however, that I must, apologetically, refuse your request-”

“But-”

The Headmaster gave him a stern look, “Harry I have given you time to say your piece without interruption surely you can afford me the same respect, and I assure you I will allow you to respond.”

Harry’s face heated up in embarrassment, “Sorry, its just the Dursleys are…” he cut himself off to try to think of the right word.

“Abusive?” the headmaster quietly offered up.

Harry’s embarrassment ratcheted up another notch and he stared down at his feet.

“Harry, please look at me.”

He swallowed but made himself do so, then nearly fell out of chair he was so surprised at the sheer depth of sadness he found in the headmaster’s eyes.

“It is my greatest regret that I never checked in on you while you were growing up. As a general rule I am a man who tries to keep to his promises and as such I rarely make promises as one never knows what might prevent them from doing so. Unfortunately I found myself at odds between two separate promises; a promise to your parents to keep you safe no matter the cost and a promise to your aunt and uncle to not interfere with how you were raised until you turned eleven.

“I sent you to live with your aunt and uncle as a direct result of that first promise.”

Harry frowned trying to figure out how that made any sense, but he held his tongue.

“I have learnt that you have been studying your family history and trying to work out your duties to your family and constituents.”

He paused and Harry nodded, wondering how these things linked up.

The headmaster continued, “As you are the last of your family you are already quite famous and will be the target of assassination attempts.”

Harry blanched in horror.

“Oh yes, its quite awful. I’m afraid it’s a terrible truth of our world that money and power often times brings out the worst in people and there are some that would feel no reluctance about killing a young child for it.

“Then we must factor in the so called Dark Lord Voldemort.

“He was an evil and vile man who had delved so deeply into the Dark Arts that it has permanently marked him as its own. It has marked him so thoroughly that even saying his name sends a chill down your spine.”

Harry nodded as he had been experiencing exactly that.

The Headmaster gave him a commiserating smile and continued, “Of course, no matter how powerful and dark Voldemort grew, he was nothing without his followers. This was something he was well aware of and as such he trained his followers to be loyal to the death and more ruthless than you could ever imagine.

“Upon Voldemort’s death his followers went mad with rage, attacking anyone and anything. It just so happened that his death was what gave the general population hope, and hope is power. Your defeat of Voldemort allowed the people to fight back and a large chunk of Voldemort’s followers were sent to prison because of this.”

Harry’s eyes were wide, “I- I did that?”

“Yes,” the headmaster agreed solemnly, “Now can you imagine what Voldemort’s followers might want to happen to the person who caused not just their compatriots’ deaths and imprisonment but also their leader’s?”

Harry swallowed and worked to control his shaking.

“Please Harry, drink some tea and have some bread.”

The headmaster allowed him some time to process things while he mechanically ate.

“So, the reason you sent me to live with the Dursleys was because… because no one would think I would be living with muggles?”

The headmaster nodded, “That is certainly one of the reasons, but there is actually a much more important one.

“You see, I have spent the past ten years studying Voldemort’s downfall. It is not only remarkable that you managed to defeat him, but entirely improbable. What about _you_ specifically made him fall where none could manage before you, myself included?

Harry forced himself to take another drink of tea as the words washed over him.

“In truth it was a culmination of many factors. First was that it was Halloween Day, or All Hallows Eve as we magicals call it. This is a day of immense power, and I have no doubt that Voldemort chose it for this exact reason.

“Which brings me to the second reason; Voldemort intended to use your death as the catalyst for some form of ritual.

“This brings us to our final factor; your mother was not simply killed. Instead she stood between you and Voldemort. She did not fight for herself, but sacrificed herself to save you.

“With all these things combined when Voldemort finally went to kill you instead the magic turned against him and attacked him, after bouncing off of you. This is what left you that scar.”

Harry shakily reached up and traced the scar he’d had his whole life.

“When I found you in the wreckage of your home that scar was briming with unused and extremely powerful magic.

“I was then left with the difficult task of what to do about this magic and how best to protect you. In the end I found a simple and, what I thought at the time to be, an elegant answer.

“I directed this left over magic to protect you as your mother did so long as you lived with someone of her bloodline.”

“My aunt.”

“Yes,” the Headmaster agreed solemnly, “This in an ancient magic, one people have used many times over the centuries to great effect, made all the more powerful by your mother’s sacrifice and the magic it left behind.”

“But, my aunt isn’t magical.”

“I’m afraid that has no bearing on the matter. All blood can be used as a magical conduit which is where those horrific stories of blood magic and sacrifices come from. You and your aunt share a bloodline and so the magic protects you.

“Still, the magic could be stronger and I have only myself to blame for it not being so. Her abuse towards you has made it weaker and for that I am sorry. Had I known, had I simply checked on you from time to time, you would be healthier, happier, and more protected.”

The headmaster’s eyes were wet with tears and Harry chewed his lip turning everything over in his head.

“You must know, Harry, that I will never forgive myself and will do all I can to make it up to you.”

“While still making me live with the Dursleys.”

The headmaster cringed, “Yes indeed, _however_ , from this point on there will be protections in place, not just to protect you from the outside world but also from the Dursleys.”

Harry couldn’t help but feel skeptical, but slowly that faded as he saw the genuine emotion behind the promise.

“I guess-” he sighed, his shoulders sagging, “I- thank you, for caring for me Headmaster.”

“Please, call me Albus, and it is my great honor to care for you.”

Harry startled at being told to call the Headmaster by his first name, “Uh right.”

They both took a drink of tea and calmed themselves before the Head- Albus continued.

“From now on you will be living in the empty bedroom at the end of the hall. Zalby will live with you and provide you with your meals and be your body guard.”

Zalby walked over from where they (he? she?) had been continuing with the sorting of presents while they had been speaking and Harry couldn’t help but be skeptical once more.

“I know that Zalby does not look particularly intimidating, and if she was going up against a magical of any strength she would surely lose in a second, however against nonmagicals of any strength she will have no problems shielding you with her own magic.”

“Well… uh.. thank you Zalby.”

“Zalby is happy to serve the Young Master.”

Albus smiled, “Aside from Zalby I will also be visiting several times a week to give you private training.”

Harry blinked in surprise, “Private training?”

He nodded, “Indeed, however if I’m not mistaken today has gone on for quite long enough and been fraught with more than enough heartache for the both of us. Why don’t we continue this tomorrow after breakfast?”

Harry swallowed and nodded.


	3. The Truth and Presents

“Where’ve you been, mate? Are you alright?”

Harry stared blankly at his friend for a moment, before grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him up the stairs to their dorm.

Just as the Headmaster, his magical guardian, Albus, as he’d asked him to call him, had said the box was waiting on his desk for him.

“I- I-”

Ron frowned, “Maybe we ought to go to the Hospital Wing.”

He shook his head and dragged Ron over to the box. Slowly he pulled things out and began to find them places.

Now Ron was slower than Hermione or Theo at catching onto things, but he wasn’t by any means stupid. “Is this- Are these things your parents’?”

Harry nodded, tears once more forming in his eyes as he lovingly put his parents’ wands in the top drawer beside his bed. It would be like having them near when he went to bed.

“Where uh- where did you get them from? Are you sure you can trust them?”

Harry let out a shaky breath, “The- the Headmaster has been holding onto them for me. Apparently he’s- he’s my magical guardian but my legal guardians are my aunt and uncle and they wouldn’t let me keep them.”

Ron whistled, “Holy smokes! That’s both bonkers and messed up.”

“Y-yeah. Um… Here, the rest is yours.”

Ron frowned and looked in the box, his eyes widening in surprise. “The Headmaster wanted me to have these?”

Harry shook his head and sat down on the bed, trying not to feel self conscious about holding the stuffed dragon to him tightly, he just couldn’t bring himself to let go of it.

“At the meeting after lunch he took me to this room on the sixth floor. Apparently another thing my aunt and uncle wouldn’t agree to is letting me get my mail.”

“Makes sense,” Ron mumbled as he stared at the Chudley Cannons jersey he was holding. It had the number seven on it along with the name Galvin Gudgeon in what seemed to Harry to be puke green making it clash horribly with the violently orange background.

“Right, so this room had, well, all of the Christmas presents people have sent me since I was a kid.”

Ron nodded absently as he pulled out a figure of Galvin Gudgeon from the box next. The figure seemed to be perpetually crashing into the ground, getting back up, levitating an inch or two from the figurine ground, then crashing once more, always face first.

“The head- that is Albus- gave me permission to do whatever I wanted with all of it so I set aside some stuff I thought you’d like.”

Ron set aside the figurine and pulled out a bound set of comics. The one on top said, _The Mad Adventures of Martin Miggs Vol. 1._

He carefully set it down onto the jersey then turned to Harry with a smile, “Well thanks mate!”

Harry smiled a little, “Of course.”

“What’re you going to do with the rest?”

He shrugged, “I’ve no idea. I was actually hoping you’d have some ideas. I’ve got baby clothes, a million books, candles, way too much food for any one person to eat, and a whole bunch of other stuff.”

“Why’d they send you baby clothes?”

“I think they sent it to me when I was a baby.”

“Oh right.”

Ron glanced back into the box and pulled out a Chudley Cannons themed quill and ink set in their signature colors of orange and puke green.

“So, any ideas?”

Ron considered it while he examined a box advertising a Quidditch board game. “Always wanted one of these, they’re loads of fun at parties,” he muttered to himself.

To Harry, Ron said, “Maybe donate the stuff to charities.”

Harry considered that, “That sounds like a great idea! I’ll ask the- Albus about how to get it to them when we have our meeting after breakfast tomorrow.”

“Another one?”

“Yeah, I think- I think tomorrow he’s going to start training me on my estate duties and whatnot.”

“So… you really haven’t had any yet? I kind of thought you were taking the piss so you could act how you wanted.”

Harry grimaced, “Merlin I wish that was the case.” He shifted uncomfortably on the bed and watched Ron pull out the candle set that had various important figures on them that Harry had heard Ron talk about. Admittedly it had mainly been in the context of wanting their chocolate frog cards but he’d thought the candles were cool so he’d set them aside for Ron. Each figure moved around and interacted with the background that they had been set in by the candle maker.

“What do you think of those?”

Ron eyed them, “They’re actually pretty cool, no idea what I’ll do with them but…” Ron shrugged, “Thanks for them.”

Harry nodded, “You could, just like, decorate with them and stuff. Put them on your bedside table at home, on your desk here, that kind of thing.”

Ron considered that while turning the Morgana one this way and that, eyeing the beautiful woman as she stirred a potion.

Finally he set the candle down and glanced in the box grimacing.

“Right… So… Uh…”

“You can look through the rest of the stuff with me another time, if you’d like,” Harry offered as he knew the box was empty.

Ron swallowed, “I- Yeah thanks. I don’t usually like charity, like ever but- well all my trousers have holes in them and I’m pretty cold most of the time…”

His face burned and his eyes were glued to the now empty box.

“I- I get it Ron.”

Ron grimaced and nodded with a look that said he didn’t.

“No seriously Ron. It wasn’t just estate training I missed out on. I didn’t know magic existed until I got my Hogwarts letter. I don’t wear these baggy clothes because I think they look cool or something, these are my cousin Dudley’s hand-me-downs.”

Ron eyed the clothes in question and slowly relaxed. Beneath the sweater his mother had made Harry a large gray shirt stuck out and two stains and a hole were visible in the too long shirt. His jeans were baggy and held up by an old worn belt that was a mottled shade of brown and his trainers had far too much room in them to spare.

“Don’t suppose you picked out some clothes for yourself, did you?”

Harry blinked in surprise having not even considered it, “No. I suppose we can pick them out together, help each other pick out things that look nice and fit right.”

Ron bit his lip, smiling a bit, “Yeah, sounds good.”

“Tomorrow or the next day though, I don’t really want to see that room again.”

“I guess it must be weird to go from having to wear your cousins hand-me-downs to having your pick of the lot.”

“I- I guess yeah. But… well…” and so Harry told Ron what the Headmaster had said.

“Man that’s really messed up,” Ron said after he finished his summary, “You’re aunt must be some kind of loon to have to be told to treat you right. Like, what the fuck?”

Harry couldn’t help but smile at Ron’s anger on his behalf.

“Well, I guess I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I could probably get away with barely seeing her all summer.”

“Good riddance,” Ron agreed, “and if its still too much I’m sure mum would be glad to have you over all the time.”

Harry’s smile grew, “I hope so, that’d be awesome.”

“Now, why don’t we see if anyone wants to play this?” he said gesturing to the Quidditch board game, “Its really awesome!”

* * *

_Professor Severus Snape,_

_I’m sorry for any problems I’ve caused in class._

_Here’s to a Happy Christmas and a better New Year!_

_Harry Potter_

It was less than thirty words but it was enough to send him spiraling. He had been barely hanging onto his sanity all year. He’d thought himself stronger than this. He’d thought the past ten years had been enough to shore himself up from the horrors he’s seen in war and the death of his beloved Lily. But one look at the Potter look alike had sent him spiraling.

And yet he’d managed to hold it together. Yes, he was snappish and rude, perhaps a bit unfair, but he wasn’t torturing and killing people. And really that was all that he felt could be asked of him, considering the circumstances.

Then Potter had sent him a gift basket.

He had no idea what was inside the fancy wrapped basket, but it almost didn’t matter.

This note could speak of arrogance and stupidity.

The question was, however, did it actually?

Why would the Potter brat even bother?

Surely, he’d grown up hearing the horror stories of the war and how he’d ended it, thus inflating his ego.

Surely, he’d been given a list of former and suspected Death Eaters and thus knew all of Severus’s most hated memories.

He had no doubt the idiot boy hadn’t been informed that Lily and Severus were friends.

Yes, they’d had that brief falling out, in public view, but that had been Lily’s idea, to make his life easier. It had been so easy to engineer, so easy to make it come true and as always, Lily had been correct and his life had become exponentially easier.

They had made a game of sneering at each other and exchanging stupid, nonsensical insults at each other when teachers paired them up out of habit. They’d still met in secret often, experimenting with potions and charms as they always had.

Yes, Severus’s heart had broken when she’d chosen to start dating James. They’d all grown up after that “prank” of Black’s and though they were never close friends the six of them had got on well enough.

Of course, once they got out of school it was Lily’s clever idea for Severus to infiltrate the Death Eaters as thoroughly as possible. These days Severus had no doubt that the Dark Lord had known all along that he couldn’t trust Severus. He must have thought it hilarious to have Severus spying on the ‘light’ side.

It all made his head spin and his insides burn to think of how thoroughly he’d been played.

They’d all been played.

Though Black was branded a Death Eater and would forever be rotting in that awful jail, Severus often felt that he too was rotting. It didn’t matter that he’d been vouched for as a spy, Severus had also been branded a Death Eater, in the most literal sense, and he would never be seen as anything else. He’d done too good of a job ingratiating himself with the Death Eaters and even Dumbledore occasionally looked at him with mistrust.

That was the only reason Severus could think of why he hadn’t been allowed near Potter.

All this time he’d spent thinking on it had made him realize that he and Lily would have been much better off without the Potter gang. They were a curse, wrapped in their own cleverness and firm understanding of what was good and bad in the world. All he and Lily had wanted to do was study and invent new things. Instead they had been dragged into that god forsaken war, because it was the right thing to do.

Dumbledore had made it very clear that this was how the Potter brat had been raised. He’d shared, as if he were a proud grandfather, times the brat had defended others on the playground, turned his ‘bullying’ teacher’s hair blue, and apparated away from a fight with his cousin, always mentioning the brat being like his father. He’d waved away Minerva and Filius’s questions about the brat’s grades and chuckled fondly at pictures of the brat that made it into the paper. It was all too much for Severus and actually dealing with the mini Potter Sr. was the breaking point.

Now this note.

This god forsaken note.

He’d long ago removed each of Lily’s pictures.

Tried to forget.

But she was forcefully shoved to the front of his brain.

Was it possible, despite all of Albus’s work to make another Potter Sr., that there was actually some Lily in him?

After hours of agonizing, and crying, and breaking things, and thoroughly exhausting himself, he finally forced himself to open the present the boy had sent him.

Initially unwrapping it revealed what appeared to be a large supply of velvet, something which was valuable enough to a Potions Master. It took only a small amount of observation to reveal that the bottom of the oddly shaped mass of velvet was a cauldron. A quick spell had it carefully unwrapped and removed without damaging it thus revealing an extremely large platinum cauldron. Inside was a Potions Master’s dream, a large assortment of extremely rare, valuable, and expensive potion making supplies. All wrapped in velvet.

He could easily see the cost involved and a part of him rebelled against it, reminding him of the boy’s father, who had regularly teased him for being poor.

The larger part, however, remembered getting a similar, though cheaper gift from Lily each holiday. It had always been his dream to be a Potions Master and Lily had been no small part in it by helping him build his basic lab supplies from an early age. Despite the fact that he had removed every other memory of Lily from his life, leaving them to his old life in his father’s now abandoned house, he had never been able to remove those. They had been the cornerstone of fulfilling his lifelong dream.

Now that brat, her son, was providing him with the means to become a Potions Master.

He was only now getting to save up the money to buy the supplies necessary to craft some of the most advanced potions needed to reach the level of Potions Master, after his father had finally died two years ago. Caring for the aging, and increasingly volatile, old bastard had regularly taken money that would have otherwise gone towards his own academic and career advancements.

Now all of that could go towards ingredients and further savings. It was as he was holding a dragon bone knife that he realized he was shaking and nearly collapsed onto the ground. He caught himself on the table, but nevertheless stared at the knife in his hand.

Should he finally do it? Should he just end it all? Could he?


End file.
